That’s the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, a memorial for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom which was built between 1906 and 1921. It’s located in downtown and it’s just about 1km away from the hotel I’m staying.
The weather was looking good this morning and I took a short walk along streets to reach this famous landmark in Kolkata. It’s actually a museum inside. Majority of the exhibits are century old paintings of famous landmarks and places in India, together with some canons and guns used by the Bengali soldiers last time.
Nothing much really interests me, except to snap some photographs from outside as cameras are banned inside the memorial.
I’m now in my final leg for this trip. 3 more weeks in Kolkata (hopefully they don’t ask me to go the city nearby) and I’ll be home and ready for my next dive trip.
And after that, it’s going be a looooong 6 months away.
It’s coming to my seventh day here, back in Incredible India again. Arrived into Delhi on Monday evening after a 5 hour flight. The airport in Delhi was under renovation last November when I left, and it looked to me nothing significant has changed for the past 7 months.
Immediately upon arrival, there was already a drama going on. There was a big quarrel going on at the arrival terminal when a man and woman suddenly started to scream at each other. The police stood and watched for a good 5 minutes before they intervened, but yet the situation remains. As I did not understand Hindi, I decided not to be a kaypoh, so I headed straight to the car and to the hotel for a good night’s rest.
Took the local Kingfisher Airlines flight to Kolkata on early Wednesday morning. It was really a nice sight with all those planes still being parked at their respective lots. I think there were easily 50-60 of them!
Kolkata is in West Bengal state, and that’s exactly where I’m going to be for the next 2 months, for a start. Maybe longer, but I wouldn’t want to speculate anything.
My first impression was that it’s certainly different from Delhi, Gurgaon or Jaipur (the other 3 places I’ve been in India). It still looks like a colonial city with Britsh-like buildings scattered everywhere around the city because it was the capital of India when the British were here a century ago.
There is greenery everywhere and less dusty. The traffic looks fine to me even with the honks going on non-stop all along the journey. Certainly, it’s much better than Cairo! I was surprised to see trams running slowly around the downtown! Certainly something which I did not expect. They look very very old though, made of wood and could easily be 30-40 years old.
Yellow taxis are everywhere. One of Kolkata’s famous sights. They easily make up 40-50% of the cars on the road. The rates are on the cheaper side and you wouldn’t need to be worried about being conned. All taxis use a meter.
But there’s a catch. You’ll need to pay double the amount of what the meter says. At first, I thought the driver was trying to cheat me, but after that he showed me an ‘official’ price chart that states the price is double of what the meter says. Since he’s not speaking English and I don’t speak Hindi, I just paid him even I’m not really convinced.
I tried to act stupid when I was on the second taxi. Again, they showed me the chart and after further research in my Rough Guide to India bible, I’m finally convinced I have to pay double the amount of the meter.
My company put me in a somehow unique hotel, named Floatel Hotel. It’s one of it’s kind in India because it’s floating stationary on the Hooghly River which cuts through Kolkata. From outside, it looks exactly like a ship. In fact, I think it’s one. To enter the lobby of the hotel, you’ll need to walk pass a railway track where the local train runs, and then walk through a ‘bridge’ as though you’re boarding a cruise ship to go to your room.
Nothing much unique in the hotel room though. It still looks like the other hotels I’ve been to. Usual stuffs.
The electricity came off twice last night for 3 hours! And again this afternoon, right when the afternoon sun was shining directly into my room!
To avoid being suffocated because of the heat, either in the room or outside (42deg), I’ve decided to go the BIGGEST and newest shopping mall in the entire India. And it happens to be just 11km away.
I’ve read about in a few days earlier in the Internet and my impression was that it’s something of the size of Mid Valley Megamall.
But I was wrong. It was nowhere near.
Probably slightly smaller than the old Sunway Pyramid before expansion. Nevertheless, it was a good trip there though. Managed to stock up some food for my next ‘unknown’ destination in Durgapur next week.
